Closed beta of Showtime in January

Our colleagues of Simsnieuws are reporting that some users within the Sims Community have gotten an invite to join in a closed beta of the Sims 3: Showtime. This beta will run from January 13th 2012 and will last for 6 days.
They’ve put up a short snippet of the invite e-mail online:

The Sims™ 3 Showtime Team would like to personally invite you to participate in an exciting closed beta test for our electrifying new expansion pack! You have been selected to participate because you have been identified as a core member of The Sims 3 community. Thanks for being a super fan!

We don’t know what the selection process is and if all the invites have already been sent.
It’s quite unique that a Sims game or expansion gets a beta. This has never been done before. Most likely it’s because of all the new social features in Showtime.